New Jersey Devils vs Carolina Hurricanes: NHL Game 1 Best Bets (4/20)

The Stanley Cup Playoffs are off and running and we have a great matchup on Sunday between two Metropolitan Division foes. The New Jersey Devils and Carolina Hurricanes go head to head in Game One of this opening round series in Raleigh.

The regular season series between these teams was split, however, all four matchups happened earlier in the season. These teams have not seen each other since they played back to back night in late December. In all four games, the home team came out on top by a score of 4-2, with Carolina adding an extra goal in their last victory. Will we see that trend continue in the playoffs? Carolina hosts tonight, and they’ve got a 31-9-1 home record to show for it.

New Jersey snuck out of the first round back in 2023, only to be taken down by Carolina in the next round in five quick games. Surely they’ll be playing with a bit of a chip on their shoulder in this series. However, they’ll need to steal at least one game on the road in order to advance, something they couldn’t do during the regular season.

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New Jersey Devils vs Carolina Hurricanes: Game One

Matchup Information – Devils vs Hurricanes

• Venue & Location: Lenovo Center (Raleigh, NC)
• Date: Sunday, April 20th, 2025
• Puck Drop: 3:00pm Eastern
• Broadcast: ESPN

Betting Odds

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Puck Line

• Devils +1.5 (-158)
• Hurricanes -1.5 (+138)

Money Line

• Devils +178
• Hurricanes -201

Total

• Over 5.5 (+117)
• Under 5.5 (-135)

New Jersey Devils vs Carolina Hurricanes Best Bets

Devils vs Hurricanes Prediction: Hurricanes Wins, Over 5.5

Best Bets: Hurricanes -1.5 (+138) BetOnline

For starters, BetOnline is giving us an extra two to six cents compared to the rest of the market. I’m all for every extra penny I can get, especially backing a hockey team to cover the spread in the postseason.

None of the previous four games were settled by less than a goal, and at -135 for Carolina to win in regulation, I’ll just take the puck line for plus money. The juice isn’t worth it, especially with the possibility of an empty netter. It’s been a while since these teams have seen each other, and the Hurricanes have all the edges on paper.

They pepper the net a ton, putting up nearly 32 shots per game, ranking 2nd in the NHL. That translates to over 3.24 goals per game, making them a clear Top 5 offense in the league. On the other side of things, they only allow 24 shots on goal per contest, which leads the NHL as well. This makes life much easier on whomever they choose to throw between the posts.

If the Hurricanes can win the shooting battle, which they’ve done every time they’ve faced New Jersey, they have a great shot at winning not only this series, but game one as well. New Jersey never saw more than 26 shots on goal in a game against Carolina this year, which always makes it extremely tough to win. All season long, Carolina has limited their opponent’s scoring chances, and it’s paid off. I see that continuing against a younger Devils team with much less playoff experience.

Give me the Canes by two with the expectation of it happening in the final moments of the game.

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